Holidays From Work: How Much Time? How Much Cash?
Most of us want to make the best use of our time away from work, but it is often difficult to work out how much time we are due and the pay we are entitled to. And with redundancies increasing, more people want to know if they should be paid for un-used holiday at the end of their employment.
This article is in response to a question on our “Suggest a Topic” page by D Humphreys, December 2008.
Currently (December 2008) the minimum amount of holiday entitlement is 4.8 weeks multiplied by your usual working week. So, if you work 5 days a week full time, you are entitled to at least 24 days holiday, fully paid.
Your employer can include public holidays as part of your entitlement (and if your contract does not say otherwise, they are included). There are eight public holidays every year in England and Wales, so for those of us in full time employment the minimum number of holiday days due, not including public holidays, is 16 (24 minus 8).
If Christmas, Boxing Day and/or New Years Day fall on a weekend, other weekdays are classed as public holidays, for example the following Monday.
A snapshot of minimum holiday entitlement:
| You work the equivalent of: | Holiday entitlement (including 8 public holidays) Until 31 March 2009 |
Holiday entitlement (including 8 public holidays) From 1 April 2009 |
| 6 full days per week | 28 | 28 |
| 5 full days per week | 24 | 28 |
| 4 full days per week | 19.2 | 22.4 |
| 3 full days per week | 14.4 | 16.8 |
| 2 full days per week | 9.6 | 11.2 |
| 1 full day per week | 4.8 | 5.6 |
On 1 April 2009 the minimum increases from 4.8 weeks to 5.6 weeks. As a result, every employee will be due an increase (unless already receiving 28 days or more), and your boss must tell you about it in writing.
Calculating the increase to your entitlement is not straightforward, so we at Winston Solicitors LLP have created a spreadsheet for you. You will only need to enter two values: the start of your hoilday year and how many days you work per week on average.
> Click here to download our Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
Where will you go on your holiday?
Your contract
Your contract of employment should state your holiday entitlement. It cannot be less than the minimum (above) but if it is more (and it often is), your employer must abide by the terms of the contract.
In general, look at your contract first: it will generally override the “default” law (although it cannot, for example, take away your right to minimum holidays, as above).
Notice
Don’t forget to give your employer enough notice that you want to take holiday. It is usually twice the length of the holiday that you want to take; for example, 1 weeks holiday would require 2 weeks notice.
Leaving your job
If you have been made redundant or are leaving your job through choice, you have a right to be paid for holiday not taken.
The first place to look is your contract. If the contract doesn’t mention this point, use the following “default” calculation:
- number of days holiday entitlement for the year
- multiplied by the fraction of the year so far
- minus the number of days already taken.
For example: an employee has 24 days holiday per year. He leaves 3 months into the year and has taken 2 days holiday. The calculation is:
(24 x 3 / 12) – 2 = 4. So he must be paid the equivalent of 4 days pay.
Working hard
So what is a day’s pay? Once again, you must check your contract. But if the contract doesn’t help, you will be entitled to the “default” position. This is not one 365th of your salary as you might expect. In fact, it is based on the number of working days in the year. So, if you are a full time employee working 5 days a week, your entitlement will be your annual salary divided by 253 (365 minus 104 weekend days minus 8 public hoildays). By default, this will not be rounded up.
The “working day” rule is good for employees: you will get paid slightly more than you would if the calculation was based on calendar days.
While you are entitled to be paid for holidays you haven’t taken, your boss can’t pay you less if you’ve already taken more than your “fair share” of holidays before you leave (unless your contract says otherwise). Another bit of good news for us workers.
Other Interesting Points
- You must agree your holiday dates with your employer.
- If your employer refuses your requested holidays, he or she must give you sufficient notice (the same length of notice as the holiday requested).
- Holiday can be taken during a notice period.
- Part days can be included in holiday but cannot be rounded down. An employer might treat a part day as a full day in some circumstances.
- Holiday entitlement still applies during Ordinary and Additional Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave and Adoption Leave.
If you have any experience of holiday entitlement issues, or if you have any queries, please feel free to use the comment form below or get in touch direct with Winston Solicitors LLP.
9 Comments
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By DAVE ASHBY, 21 January 2009 @ 10:18 pm
I work for a leading chain of supermakets, and staff have been told they will have to work the Saturday and Sunday inbetween Christmas and Boxing day of this year 2009, are they allowed by law to impose this and break up the holiday break?
By Law Chat, 22 January 2009 @ 3:37 pm
Dave, thanks for your comment. The first and most important port of call is your contract of employment. I strongly suspect (as you work for a leading chain) that the contract will allow your employer to require staff to work those days. If (however unlikely) your employer does not have this right, I suggest you speak to your line manager and then, if you want to take it further, contact a solicitor of your choice for advice.
By carolina, 5 February 2009 @ 12:08 am
does an employee have to pay you for holidays not taken ? The contract only statesholidays unused cannot be carried forward to next year. No mention is made that they will not pay you for unused days.
By Law Chat, 6 February 2009 @ 10:46 am
Carolina, the default position is that employers do not have to pay for unused holidays, unless it is stated by contract that they do. So, in your case, it seems that your employer does not have to pay you for holidays not taken (I presume you mean employer, not employee).
By David Evans, 6 March 2009 @ 6:54 pm
I have been told that I will only be paid for any hoildays taken at the end of my contract, instead of when I took the holiday. This is not stated in the contract I signed. Is thsi legal? If not what regulation covers this?
By Law Chat, 9 March 2009 @ 10:53 am
David, I’m afraid I don’t quite understand. If you’re saying you haven’t been paid for the holiday you have taken, then this is unlawful, assuming you are referring to the holiday you are due under your contract of employment. If it is more complicated than this, you better get in touch with us. See the contact information at the very bottom of this page.
By Keith Flook, 6 May 2009 @ 2:52 pm
My wife was dismissed from her job last week, verbally and told not to come in again.
She had been working there since 16th June 2008, so would find it diffucult to take anything to ET.
In that time she had received nothing at all in writing regarding Contract or Terms.
She asked a co-owner for a weeks holiday last September and was given it but the other co-owner that handles the staffing refused to pay holiday pay.
My wife had to request, quite strongly, to receiver her correct pay for a week worked before a weeks holiday in March.
Since the September whenever my wife has queried something she had been told “If you don’t like it then leave”
She was given a verbal warning for failing to clean the Hotel rooms properly but found recently that they allowed other members of staff to use the rooms to get changed in after the rooms had been cleaned.
I drew up a letter for my wife to send to the owners asking for final settlement of all amounts owned to her including that weeks holiday and payment in lieu of notice, etc.
The owners refuse pay for that weeks holiday in September they withheld and have told my wife if she tries to make thing public they will see a Solicitor and have us done for harassment.
Is there anything we can now do or make a claim to the County Court under the small claims procedure?
By Law Chat, 7 May 2009 @ 12:34 pm
Keith,
Thanks for your message. Although your wife has technically been unfairly dismissed, she’s not had a year’s employment which is the statutory minimum for bringing a claim in the Tribunal (unless discrimination has occurred, such as pregnancy related dismissal). We would suggest following the route of the county court for a contractual claim based on the amounts owed, notice and holiday pay, if you and your wife feel strongly enough to do so. I’m afraid we can’t give more specific advice online, but if you would like to get in touch please do so (contact details at the foot of this page).
By Keith Flook, 17 June 2009 @ 8:49 am
Thank, had a word with ACAS, who advised us to start an ET claim.
Advised us, that as she had not received anything in writing or verbally, her holiday year started on 16th June, so her ex employer actually owed her over 3 weeks holiday pay.
It looks like her ex employer took advice following receiving the claim from ET and is going to pay the claim in full, should get the cheque by next week.